India’s largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Wednesday said it will recruit 1,500 technology employees across the UK over the next year. The announcement followed Monday’s meeting in Mumbai between visiting UK Trade Secretary Liz Truss and TCS CEO Rajesh Gopinathan. During the meeting, the two sides discussed TCS’ commitment to continue investing in the UK economy, innovation, technology sector, and in developing workforce skills.

The latest announcement builds on TCS’ 45-year history in the UK. Some of the UK’s largest corporations in their growth and transformation initiatives and helping them harness the power of emerging technologies to launch new innovative products and services, TCS has been an integral part of the UK economy’s initiatives to remain globally competitive, TCS said in a statement.

The Mumbai-headquartered company has grown its business in the UK almost four-fold over the last decade entirely organically, making it one of the largest providers of IT and IT-enabled services in the nation. TCS is also one of the UK’s largest recruiters of IT talent. TCS’ workforce in the UK has 54 nationalities represented, and women account for 28 percent of the workforce, much higher than the 17 percent average in the IT sector. The company, however, did not provide the current headcount for the UK market. The firm’s revenue from the UK market was about GBP 2.7 billion at the end of FY20.

Our sustained investments have made TCS the preferred growth and transformation partner of our valued customers in the UK, allowing them to digitally transform their business for competitive growth, Gopinathan said. Truss, UK Secretary of State for International Trade, said deeper trading ties will create opportunities for UK businesses that were simply not there as part of the EU, and set the stage for a much closer partnership, ensuring more investors like TCS bring jobs and growth to the UK. We will be collaborating much more closely in the industries of tomorrow like science, tech and green growth, so we can build back better and deliver an export-led, investment-led, jobs-led recovery from coronavirus, Truss added.

TCS UK and Ireland Country Head Amit Kapur noted that the UK has been an important market for the company for many years. We are creating thousands of well-paying jobs in communities across the UK, rejuvenating local economies and providing visibility to young people around long-term careers in technology, he added. TCS’ STEM skills programmes have reached more than 1.5 lakh people in the UK in the last three years. A part of the Tata group, the USD 22-billion TCS has over 4.69 lakh consultants in 46 countries.